Tag Archives: Wizard of Oz

The Wizard

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POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

The Wizard

A recent series of young adult books has reminded me how fun it is to believe in magic. Can you remember the first time you watched the movie The Wizard of Oz? How about Cinderella or Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? Remember sitting in front of the television and not even being able to blink your eyes as magical things happened to make scarecrow talk and pumpkins turn into carriages and little orange people mix chocolate by waterfall? And how did you feel when the words “The End” scrolled up on the screen?

Writing is that way. You know the story because you’ve listened to the characters tell it in their own words. Your job is to take the story they told you and find the magic words that will weave a spell around your reader and keep them glued to your words.

Stephen King uses the term “telepathy,” and that’s a very good description. But J. K. Rowling goes a little further and alludes to “a book that casts a spell that won’t let the reader put it down.”

The magic comes from words spun like a spell, winding around the reader’s eyes and pulling their imagination to the page. They can’t put the book down until the story ends, and then they turn back to the beginning and start over.

Look for magic all around you and the words will appear.

Congratulations. You have received a post card from the muse.

Nandy Ekle

A Writer’s Vacation

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POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

A Writer’s Vacation

We took a trip out of town just to get away for a couple of days. Now two days is not very long and there’s no reason to drive far, so we ended up in a small town four hours north of our house. The town doesn’t have very many activities, but I’ve always told people that a creative person is never bored. And I think we proved this again.

Forty miles from our hotel was a museum dedicated to a well-known outlaw gang. This was a small museum, but full of character.  The tour started in a barn that had been renovated and made into a gift shop. The loft had been converted to a museum full of items depicting life in the days of the outlaws and history of the county. Back down on the first floor of the barn, one wall opened up to an underground tunnel leading to the main house on the property. The property had been owned by the sister of the brothers in the marauding gang and they were known to visit her when they needed to “cool their heels.”

As I stepped into the tunnel, a sense of adventure in a different time crept up my spine. Tunnels and secret passages have always fascinated me, and this one delivered that scrumptious snack for my imagination. I could almost hear the voices of the bad guys as they flew through the underground space to the house up the hill from the barn. I pretended to hear them shush each other and climb the stairs into the kitchen of the little house.

The next attraction on our itinerary was the Wizard of Oz museum. As a child, my life revolved around this movie, and even now as an adult who recognizes and loves good writing and good plots, this was my holy grail.

Our tour guide was a young actress dressed as Dorothy and she led us through the little white house that the museum society had erected to represent Dorothy’s House, which was full of period items to illustrate what life was like at the turn of the century. After going through every room of the house we headed to “the Land of Oz” where movie scenes had been built to re-enact the movie.  My heart beat a million beats a minute and I had to fight tears of excitement, just as if I was a little girl again. And, just like in the outlaw hideout tunnel, my imagination took over. A story concept popped into my head and heightened my experience even more.

When you feel writer’s block coming on, try taking a sight-seeing road trip. Even a small, unknown place will have a story hiding behind a door or in a barn, under a rock or just out in a field. It’s up to you to find them.

Congratulations. You have just received a post card from the muse.

Nandy Ekle

The Wizard

Posted on by
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POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

The Wizard

A recent series of young adult books has reminded me how fun it is to believe in magic. Can you remember the first time you watched the movie The Wizard of Oz? How about Cinderella or Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? Remember sitting in front of the television and not even being able to blink your eyes as magical things happened to make scarecrow talk and pumpkins turn into carriages and little orange people mix chocolate by waterfall? And how did you feel when the words “The End” scrolled up on the screen?

Writing is that way. You know the story because you’ve listened to the characters tell it in their own words. Your job is to take the story they told you and find the magic words that will weave a spell around your reader and keep them glued to your words.

Stephen King uses the term “telepathy,” and that’s a very good description. But J. K. Rowling goes a little further and alludes to “a book that casts a spell that won’t let the reader put it down.”

The magic comes from words spun like a spell, winding around the reader’s eyes and pulling their imagination to the page. They can’t put the book down until the story ends, and then they turn back to the beginning and start over.

Look for magic all around you and the words will appear.

Congratulations. You have received a post card from the muse.

Nandy Ekle